Two men bore the name Enoch in the early history of mankind. One was the third from Adam in the line of Cain (Gen. 4:1, 17); the other was “the seventh from Adam” in the line of Seth (Gen. 5:3-24; Jude 14). But their characters were very different. One had a memorial raised to him in that his father called the first city on earth by his name (Gen. 4:17). But the memorial to the other has been given by God Himself, and the divine commendation is that “he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). The city has long since crumbled to dust, but “the Word of the Lord endures for ever” (1 Pet. 1:25).
The scriptural references to the second Enoch tell us that he came to God, he walked with God, he witnessed for God, and he was taken by God.
He Came to God
In the context of Enoch, the writer to the Hebrews speaks of the person who “comes to God” in faith (Heb. 11:6). Although doubtless referring to such a person’s constant practice1, we can profitably consider when it was that Enoch first came to God. All the evidence points to this having happened at the time of the birth of his first son, Methuselah (Gen. 5:21-22).2 Prior to that event, it is said (as is said of all others in the chapter) that he simply “lived”; but we are told that, from that point on (and unlike the others), he “walked with God.” We conclude that Enoch’s conversion can be dated to that time. But why should the birth of Methuselah mark such a dramatic change in his father’s life? It is at least possible that the name Methuselah signifies “when he dies, it [the Flood] will be sent,” and we know that the Flood did come the year of Methuselah’s death.3 It might be, therefore, that God made known to Enoch not only the second advent of Christ (see below) but also His coming judgment on the world in the form of the Flood, and that this revelation occasioned his initial coming to God in faith.
He Walked with God
Enoch’s faith expressed itself in regular, unbroken communion with God (Gen. 5:22). The expression “walked with God” points to that which was steadfast and persevering—not intermittent and fluctuating. Such a walk earned Enoch “this testimony that he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5).4 Scripture speaks variously of the believer walking: “before” the Lord in uprightness and sincerity (Gen. 17:1); “after” the Lord in obedience and service (Deut. 13:4; Hos. 11:10); “in” the Lord in union and dependence (Col. 2:6); and, in the case of both Enoch and Noah, “with” the Lord in close and intimate communion (Gen. 5:24; 6:9).
Enoch’s awareness that the world around him was earmarked for destruction profoundly affected the way that he lived, radically changing his outlook, his values, and his priorities in life (cf. 2 Pet. 3:6-12). Throughout the remainder of his days, he chose to walk in fellowship with God rather than in fellowship with the ungodly society around him (Gen. 5:24; Jude 15). Strengthened and fortified by his faith and his fellowship with God, he did just that for 300 years (Gen. 5:22).
He Witnessed for God
If God later bore witness to Enoch and his faith, Enoch for his part, bore witness to God and His Word (Jude 14-15). And Enoch’s prophecy was a further demonstration of his faith. “Faith,” we read, is “the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Enoch’s prophecy was certainly that; for his prophecy (the only spoken words of Enoch recorded in Scripture), though ranking as one of the very first revelations granted by God to man, looked far beyond the Flood to a time still future now, when, at our Lord’s manifestation in glory, He will execute judgment on all who are ungodly.
Not that such a divine revelation should come as any surprise to us given that the One who made known His Word to Enoch can say of Himself, “there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning” (Isa. 46:9-10).
As “the seventh from Adam” through Seth (Jude 14), Enoch stands in contrast to bigamous, blasphemous, and ungodly Lamech, the seventh from Adam through Cain (Gen. 4:1, 17-18).
He was Taken by God
“By faith Enoch was taken away [removed, transported] so that he did not see death.” There cannot be any doubt by whom he was taken away: “God took him” (Gen. 5:24). The word took is used later to describe the departure of Elijah out of the world (2 Ki. 2:5, 7). Although the men of his day doubtless searched for Enoch following his mysterious disappearance, “he was not found,” any more than would be Elijah when the men of his day sought for him following his ascension to heaven (2 Ki. 2:11, 15-17). Enoch and Elijah are the only two men to date who have left the world without dying. We should note, however, that at our Lord’s second advent (of which Enoch prophesied), two other men will do the same (Rev. 19:20), although their destination will be very different!
Whereas Enoch certainly experienced a dramatic change in his circumstances (and no doubt in his condition, to fit him for the heavenly realm, 1 Cor. 15:50-51), he experienced no change in his company. For, in one sense, the man who had walked with God on earth was one day simply taken away by Him to walk with Him in white (cf. Rev. 3:4).
Interestingly, the historical chapter in the Old Testament which briefly records Enoch’s life story makes mention of two very unusual men: Adam and Enoch (Gen. 5:5; 21-24). Adam died, never having been born; whereas Enoch, having been born, never died! Indeed it is possible that the man through whose sin death entered the world (Rom. 5:12) actually met the man who “did not see death”; for, according to their genealogy, their lives overlapped by more than 300 years.
If we can say that it was by faith that Enoch initially came to God, that it was by faith that he maintained his walk with God for three centuries, and that it was by faith that he prophesied of a judgment to come many millennia later, in what sense can we say that it was by faith that Enoch was taken? I suggest that the writer to the Hebrews is saying that Enoch so pleased God that God took him and that because (as the writer notes in verse 6) faith is an essential condition of pleasing God, it was, in effect, on account of Enoch’s faith that he was taken away.
In closing, let us aspire as Enoch to walk to please God, and to wait with expectation for the Lord to come from heaven, at which time we shall, as Enoch, be taken away that we shall not see death (1 Thess. 4:1, 15-17). For our immediate hope as Christians is not the fulfillment of Enoch’s prophecy (although we shall be associated with our Lord when He comes to judge the ungodly), but the sharing of Enoch’s blessed experience. Lord, hasten the day!
Endnotes
1 Compare Hebrews 7:25.
2 It is interesting that the shortest life recorded in Genesis 5 (that of Enoch, at 365 years—“a year of years,” Matthew Henry) was followed by the longest (that of Methuselah, 969 years). Given that God’s judgment in the Flood fell the same year as the death of Methuselah, we are probably justified in associating Methuselah’s extraordinary long life with “the long-suffering of God” which “waited in the days of Noah” (1 Pet. 3:20).
3 Compare Genesis 5:25-28; 7:6.
4 The Greek Old Testament renders the opening of Genesis 5:22 and 5:24 as “And Enoch was well-pleasing to God,” on the basis of which the writer to the Hebrews says that “he had this testimony, that he was well-pleasing to God” (Heb. 11:5, literally).